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The shale gas boom in the United States spurred a shift in electricity generation from coal to natural gas. Natural gas combined cycle units emit half of the CO2 to produce the same energy as a coal unit; therefore, the market trend is credited for a reduction in GHG emissions from the US power sector. However, methane that escapes the natural gas supply chain may undercut these relative climate benefits. In 2016, Canada, the United States and Mexico pledged to reduce methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector 40-45% from 2012 levels by 2025. This article reviews the science-policy landscape of methane measurement and mitigation relevant for meeting this pledge, including changes in US policy following the 2016 presidential election. Considerable policy incoherence exists in all three countries. Reliable inventories remain elusive; despite government and private sector research efforts, the magnitude of methane emissions remains in dispute. Meanwhile, mitigation efforts vary significantly. A framework that integrates science and policy would enable actors to more effectively inform, leverage and pursue advances in methane measurement and mitigation. The framework is applied to North America, but could apply to other geographic contexts. Key policy insights The oil and gas sector’s contribution to atmospheric methane concentrations is becoming an increasingly prominent issue in climate policy. Efforts to measure and control fugitive methane emissions do not presently proceed within a coherent framework that integrates science and policy. In 2016, the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States pledged to reduce methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector 40-45% from 2012 levels by 2025. The 2016 presidential election in the United States has halted American progress at the federal level, suggesting a heavier reliance on industry and subnational efforts in that country. Collectively or individually, the countries, individual agencies, or private stakeholders could use the proposed North American Methane Reduction framework to direct research, enhance monitoring and evaluate mitigation efforts, and improve the chances that continental methane reduction targets will be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To maximize the utility of research to decisionmaking, especially given limited financial resources, scientists must set priorities for their efforts. We present a list of the top 40 high-priority, multidisciplinary research questions directed toward informing some of the most important current and future decisions about management of species, communities, and ecological processes in the United States. The questions were generated by an open, inclusive process that included personal interviews with decisionmakers, broad solicitation of research needs from scientists and policymakers, and an intensive workshop that included scientifically oriented individuals responsible for managing and developing policy related to natural resources. The process differed from previous efforts to set priorities for conservation research in its focus on the engagement of decisionmakers in addition to researchers. The research priorities emphasized the importance of addressing societal context and exploration of trade-offs among alternative policies and actions, as well as more traditional questions related to ecological processes and functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the authors discuss the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The focus of the article is the need for an integrated systems approach for effective environmental protection in the 21st century. Topics include an overview of the evolution of U.S. environmental science and policy, the creation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Ash Council, and sustainability science and technology in the 21st century.

The article focuses on the interference of political biases in science under former U.S. President George W. Bush's Administration. A survey among the scientists who work for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed that political interference is experienced in their work. According to the author, the administration also practiced science denial and refused to acknowledge or to act on the scientific evidence of global climate change. The author concludes that giving scientists an independent voice might be an effective method of countering political interference, which can be accomplished by publishing science documents without edits by political officials.

The article examines the failures of both scientific and political integrity in crafting a sound environmental policy in the U.S. While scientific integrity emerges from the decision-making process, where information is fed in, political integrity arises at the back-end of the process, when an environmental agency must transform information into decisions. Under the tenure of U.S. President George W. Bush, scientific premises are challenged and evaluated, agency scientists, such as NASA climate researcher Doctor James Hansen, are censored, and scientific judgments are not fully and accurately reported.

The article discusses the interest in public policy and its interplay with science, the environment and engineering in the U.S. Some reasons policymakers have valued scientific and technical information differently when considering environmental and energy policy are given. Debating the science and technical information around an issue can take several forms, including the status of the issue. Peter Isler of "USA Today" suggested that science has always been one part of the information weighed in public policy debates and he thought that the notion that it is the science that decides the public policy decision is not the way it has been in the past and not the way it should be.

The article discusses the functions of nongovernmental organizations (NGO) in the link between science and policy in the U.S. The author remarks that the relationship between science and government has worsened and definitely needs to be fixed. He says that science needs to be inclusive rather than exclusionary, when dealing with environmental problems. The culture of NGO insists on transparency. They provide balance in the transformation of scientific information into policy. The NGO help create policy examination of new problems and have shown an ability to convert a scientific question into a policy issue with great effectiveness.

Boundary work between science and politics in US acid rain and climate change congressional hearings is compared. In the acid rain case, boundaries were flexibly drawn between science and politics as expert scientists tailored their expertise to appear both objective and useful. In climate change hearings during the 1990s, there were fewer examples of direct boundary work. Three explanations are presented: expert scientists and economists drew on knowledge claims from a boundary organization; they drew on a discourse that combined economic growth and environmental protection in more politically acceptable ways; and they developed more sophistication in merging science and politics in hybrid forms. However, these three developments proved to be not completely stable, leading to further boundary work that discursively established a safe scientific domain away from the hearings [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the relation of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to science, noting boycotts of U.S. conferences by scientists, the overturning of rules protecting streams and mandating methane emissions be captured, and opposition by biotechnology firm executives to Trump's travel ban focused on Muslim majority countries.

The article focuses on the science policy of John Edwards, a presidential candidate for the 2008 elections in the U.S. It states that Edwards wants to change the policies related to science and aims towards countering pollution, climatic changes, and increase science funding for the development of research works on stem cells. It also mentions Edwards' policies for the economic development of the U.S., which includes low cost Internet for rural communities, and more research works on autism and fragile X syndrome. Edwards endorses Friends of the Earth Action, a nonprofit group that proposes to reduce greenhouse emissions. It mentions that the environmental policies of Edwards, which includes his opposition towards the expansion of nuclear power and eradicating the use of carbon-based fuel.

The article reflects the opinion of the author on the significance of the role of the U.S. presidential science and technology adviser in the implementation of environmental policies. The author said that on the interview he conducted with some of the presidential advisers he learned that although the role of each science adviser is different, some characteristic remain constant such as the support an adviser must render to the president on whatever policies the president formulated.

The article reports that the recently passed U.S. budget for fiscal year (NY) 2005, finalized in a scurry to complete the congressional lame duck session, did more than just shortchange science. Although homeland security and defense did receive notable increases in funding, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Environmental Protection Agency actually had their funding reduced from FY 2004 levels. The decrease in NSF funding will not only hurt basic science research programs but will seriously hamper efforts to improve science education, in which NSF plays a key role.

Speculates about the environmental policy of United States President-elect George W. Bush. Scientific topics that have received political attention, including global warming, air particulates, and genetically modified food; Reaction of the environmental lobby to Bush's interest in devolving federal pollution controls; Assertion that funding for research at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and agriculture departments will illustrate the administration's commitment to the environment.

Reports that the National Science Foundation (NSF) is planning a major environmental science initiative. Views of Rita Colwell, the NSF's new director; Colwell's background; Her desire for the NSF to be more involved in advanced computing research; More support for interdisciplinary work; Current evaluation of the NSF's adminstrative needs.